I begin this posting with an apology that it is taking me a full week to post anything about the first full tour I’ve gone on in support of FUTUREPROOF.

ON THE ROAD (self portrait)

There are two reasons for this, first and foremost being that when I got home on Monday afternoon, I was literally fucked in the head from so much driving, so much time away from my family, so much alcohol intake, so long removed from my “normal” element. It took a while to get my head straight enough, through sleep and internal cleansing, that I could write the mammoth posting that I promise you will see here on Monday with any of the insight I expect of me when I write something, much less something as important as the complete wrap-up of my first full multi-stop book tour.

JUST A HINT OF WHAT’S TO COME MONDAY

Secondly, I’m late in putting up the post because I wanted to have the pictures that I’d taken during the journey to go up with the words. More interesting that way, and a great venue for the pics. I couldn’t very well post all my musings on the tour one day and then a few days later post the pics without there being a serious disconnect, leaving both posts lacking. And, long story short, the woman “working” the photo counter at the Eckerd Drugs down the road from me doesn’t know her ass from a darkroom, apparently. As you’ll see in some of the pics coming in the post Monday, many are not even cut correctly. And this is AFTER she supposedly fixed all the development errors (which included overexposing about a quarter of the pictures, as well as completely neglecting to print over 10 of them).

One of the little bitchings I love to regale my beautiful wife with is the following (and is perfect in moments like these, when you can’t even get four one-time-use cameras developed properly at the 1-hour photo): “Nobody gives a fuck about quality anymore.” And it’s true. Perhaps the days of Starbucks workers getting paid $10/hr. to pour Hot Joe made for increased attention to detail and overall quality back during the late-90’s coffee explosion, but that quality and concern for even the smallest of jobs has evidently not trickled down to any other high-turnover industry. An industry like, say…photo developing. Used to be an art, I hear. But I digress—from this digression, and get to the point at hand.

James Frey: There IS A Case To Be Made For His Awesomeness

And I figured I’d be the first one to do so in a very public and well-argued (if I should say so myself) way. Please do check out my guest post this morning over at Susan Henderson’s LitPark, where I lay out in detail why James Frey should not only be forgiven for whatever transgressions some of you are still holding a grudge about, but even moreso, that James should be in a way LIONIZED for the way he has ultimately changed publishing and brought so many more readers to the table. http://www.litpark.com